The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1887-06-11

A Lack Of Free Passes Makes Trouble
on the Cara

n LACK O1 9IOo xSMoo 03Xeo 4EVUUA0
On the Carr
Fewer people seem to be travel
ing for the delirious JOY of travelling
this year than ever before in the
history Of the country. Eating
houses, dining cars, sleeping cars
and hotels seem to suffer most. A
few days ago l had the pleasure of
riding from st. Paul to Chicago,
and from Chicago to New York,
over one of the most fluent rail-
way lines in each instance, and
/ could not shut my eyes to the
fact that the new interstate COM
merce law has made a difference
From Cleveland to Buffalo l rode
in a special car. 1t was the Sleep
ing car Aberdeen, occupied by my
self and suite. l had a conductor,
porter and brakeman to do my
bidding, and the whole car was
mine, mine alone. 1t was pleasant
at first, but finally it seemed lonely,
so l called the porter and engaged
him in conversation. He said it
had been that way a good deal
during the month of April. One
day he said that he and a spotter
sat and glared at each other all the
way from Elkhart, Ind, to Syra-
cuse, N. Y. He told me that it
was time for memory and for
tears. Sleeping cars, he stated,
have been for years the hotbed of
the annual pass. 1t is for that
reason that sleeper after sleeper is
being sidetracked. He was a
bright, intelligent young man, with
a clear, olive-oil complexion, and
when left him / wrung out his
hand for him and gave him small
piece Of money which l hope he
will expend wisely.
/ also conversed with the train
boy, sometimes coarsely and incor-
rectly called "the peanutter." He
came into my special car to afford
me an opportunity to speculate in
box of choice figs and an armful
of paper pronouns, including a."
Thou" He" Me-" "She" and
1T" He heaved a sigh when /
spoke of the new law, and, sitting
down beside me, he looked sadly
in my open, ingenious face. while
he rested nine or ten dollars worth
of books Oh my knee.
"Yes," he said, inserting soiled
thumb in the corner of his eye in
search of cinder, sit is an erie of
financial depression. People who
pay their fare bring their dinner,
ride in the day coach, and sleep
with their mouths open. They
buy nuthin'. In fact, nobody trav-
els now unless it is case of life
and death. Then they take hard
boiled egg and a blanket and bor-
row the papers. And now | see
some sardine from Snaggsville says
that under the Interstice Com
merce Law a peanutter really has
no right to ride free any more than
anybody else, not being a railroad
employe am tired of it. l can
sit here and see my figs grow old
on my hands. Just look at the
lines of care on that box of figs
Two weeks ago / had to take all
the prizes out of my candy pack
ages and sell 'em for what could
get. You noticed l didn't go
through the cars to-day putting a
fresh pecan meat in everybody's
lap? That's because l can't afford
it. The injustice and clean-out
cussedness of this new law is in
vading every home and desolating
every hearthstone in the land.
Lemme sell you The Girl Detective /;
or, Hunted to Halifax and Back
Again Without Feed or Water by
the author of only a Dark Blue
PILL"
Then the train conductor came
along, dreamily punched my ticket
and asked me if wanted dinner at
Buffalo. / said did.
"Then there are two of you to
dine there to-day" he said, for
there is another man in the next
to the last sleeper who will join
you in the dining hall. Generally
we have elk tables full on the train
for the eating house at Buffalo
To-day there are two men on the
whole train who will dine there
and there is no profit in either OF
them, for the other man is even
more gaunt than you are"
"To what do you attribute al
this?" | asked in a quiet, gram
matical manner which put him al
once ut his ease.
"Oh, it is the new Inconvenien'
Commerce law. Go into the dining
room at Buffalo and you will set
about twenty walters, cooks ane
clerks, and two guests at the table
counting yourself, while no doub
an old gentleman will take 'stanf
up' at the lunch counter, consist
ing of cup of coffee, for which n
pays 10 cents, and a doughnut